Tripura to get two more National Highways: MORTH sanctions fund, Communication infrastructure likely to improve in the upcoming daysTIWN

PHOTO : NH-44

AGARTALA, March 28 (TIWN): Tripura will get two more National Highways. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MORTH) had already sanctioned the amount needed for the Construction of Highways. Accordingly the Public Works Department (PWD) of Tripura invites E-tender which should be based upon the detailed project report. It is estimated that nearly 700 crore should be required for the completion for the work. The last date for submission of tender is April 22.In the meantime, among the two National Highways, the 1st one which runs from Kumarghat-Kailasahar-Khowai-Teliamura with al length of 157.70 km is named as 208 National Highway and the 2nd one is named as 108-A to run from Sabroom-Kukitol via Amarpur, Teliamura, Khowai, Kamalpur , Kailasahar and Dharmanagar with a length of 22.90 km. In addition to this, The Central Government had approved the construction of another Highway from Jolabairi- Border Haat, though this highway is not recommended by the State Government.

With the inclusion of this National highway, the length of National Highway is increased to 646 km.

The present status of Roads is:

1.

National Highway

646 km

2.

State Highway

509 km

3.

Major District Roads

90 km

4.

Other District Roads

1218 km

5.

Village roads (RD/ADC)

8195 km

6.

Village Roads (PWD)

9434 km

7.

IBB Roads

726 km

8.

Total

20,818 km

It is to be mentioned here that Tripura is one of the states in North Eastern region of the country, and prior to its merger with Union of India, this princely state was having the connectivity with erstwhile East Pakistan, and now Bangladesh.

And after partition, the State became landlocked and only opportunity left to connect with the mainland was through Assam.

With this situation, it became really a difficult task for the Government to improve the road connectivity through the hilly areas and that too while adequate budget provision was not available. The progress especially in road connectivity started rolling mainly in last two decades and with all sincere efforts and cooperation from people of the State, most of the State has been connected with fair weather roads.